Everyone Looks to Seoul for School

Mar 02,2000

Of the students who scored within the top 5 percent on the College entrance examination, 62.5% chose to go to a Seoul-based college, according to the Ministry of Education.
One professor confessed that his school would not have survived if it had not been located within the metropolitan area of Seoul. He went on to say that the students from his region would go to schools farther into Seoul and students from further south would make up the student body of his school.
Colleges in the countryside are underestimated for the sole reason that they are situated in the provinces. Preferential treatment or hiring quotas for students from provincial schools would not completely solve this problem. On top of this, professors of local colleges are also eager to build a nest in Seoul.
This overwhelming preference for Seoul is not only seen in education but literally everywhere. It is not just a social phenomenon, but a social pathology, because it has distorted Korean society and has only served to deteriorate the integrity of society.
Overpopulation in the capital, caused by the sweeping inflow of rural people, has lowered the standard of living of the citizens in Seoul, while people in the provinces are suffering from a sense of neglect and inferiority.
Although local autonomy was executed five years ago, a cliche of,"Seoul, the mother country; the Provinces, the Colonies" still carries meaning because of the monopoly Seoul enjoys in every area of the society; politics, economy, culture, and so on.
If Seoul-based colleges move their main offices to provincial locals, they will get beautiful campuses while helping solve some of these problems. People must begin to understand that there are many places to go other than Seoul.